


Feverblossom

by Edonohana



Category: Dark Tower - Stephen King
Genre: Gen, Gifts, Hurt/Comfort, Poisoning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21950155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edonohana/pseuds/Edonohana
Summary: The ka-tet prepares a surprise for Jake while he's recovering from being poisoned.
Comments: 19
Kudos: 34
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Feverblossom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sasha_b](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_b/gifts).



The land they had come to was a lot prettier than most places they’d walked through on the Path of the Beam, with streams of clear water, sun-dappled woods, and fields of wildflowers. “Fine and fair,” Roland called it, sounding a little suspicious, and frowned like he was trying to remember something. 

“Air,” said Oy hoarsely, ran ahead, then turned back and gave a hopeful-sounding yip. Jake ran after him, his hair flying out behind him and glinting gold in the sun. 

It was easy to forget how young he was, with his cool self-possession and the Ruger at his hip. But he was a boy still, and at times the boy was given free rein. He caught Oy in a flying tackle, and boy and billy-bumbler rolled over and over on the path, Jake laughing and Oy giving little rough yelps, and they rolled off the path and into the meadow.

Jake screamed. 

“Jake!” Roland shouted, and ran to him. Eddie followed running, and Susannah wheeling on the hard-packed dirt of the deer trail. 

Jake was lying still, legs on the trail and body in the tall grass of the meadow. Oy, howling, caught one of his pant legs and, paws braced, tried to drag him away. The soles of his rough deerskin moccasins were upturned. Dazed with shock, Eddie saw that one of them had a hole in it. Roland would scold him for saying nothing. He’d told them often enough that injuries to the feet got infected easily and healed slowly. 

Roland dropped to his knees beside Jake, then lifted him and laid him down on the path. Jake's face was very pale, his eyes were unfocused, and his outstretched right hand was reddened and puffy. Oy sat by his side, licking his face. 

Jake struggled to sit up, mumbling, “My hand…”

Roland laid his palm on Jake’s chest. “Lie still, Jake. Especially, don’t move your hand.”

He lifted Jake’s arm at the elbow and poured the water of his canteen over his hand, turning it back and forth, careful not to let any of the runoff touch either Jake or himself. “I need more water.”

Eddie handed Roland his canteen. Roland emptied it in the same manner, then opened his pack, took out a rag, and began wiping Jake’s hand off, taking care not to touch his hand or any of the wet parts of the rag.

Susannah leaned over, holding her canteen and peering at Jake anxiously. “Did something bite you?”

“I don’t know.” Jake’s voice sounded thick, as if he was coming down with a cold. “It hurts.”

“You’ll be all right,” Roland reassured him. “You touched a feverblossom. I should have guessed there might be some in these fields. It’s early in the year for them… or it should be. Time isn’t very reliable nowadays.” 

He threw the rag into the meadow, then took Susannah’s canteen and rinsed Jake’s hand once again. It was visibly swollen now, the flesh rising above the band of his Seiko watch. As Roland removed it, Eddie was not entirely surprised to see that the numbers on the dial read 19:19:19. 

“What’s a feverblossom?” Jake asked, then coughed. 

“You don’t have them in your world?” Roland asked. When they all shook their heads, he lifted Jake gently and said, “Hold him so he can see, Eddie.”

Eddie took the boy into his arms, resting Jake’s head against his shoulder. His skin was damp and burning hot, and his breath rasped in his throat. 

Roland leaned over and parted the tall grass with infinite care. “There.”

Eddie, who had been expecting something ordinary enough to have him double-checking every weed on Mid-World, was both relieved and revolted to see a stem and leaves the pink-white of a cave-dwelling fish, topped with a flower like a child's sculpture in pus-colored clay. 

“I won’t be touching that,” Susannah said with feeling. “Ugh!”

“Ugh!” echoed Oy. Jake managed a chuckle, then coughed again.

Roland took Jake from Eddie and stood up. “We need to find shelter. Jake, sleep if you can. You’ll get better faster if you rest.”

Jake nodded and closed his eyes. His face was flushed, his hair wet with sweat and sticking to his face. Eddie was again struck by how young he really was, and how small. Roland could easily carry him in his arms. 

“Will he—” Eddie began, then broke off, unsure if Jake could hear him.

“He’s sleeping,” said Roland, beginning to stride down the path. “Yes, he truly will recover. Feverblossom is poisonous, but not deadly if it’s removed quickly and thoroughly. He’ll be too ill to travel for a tenday or so—”

“That long?” Susannah sounded as worried as Eddie felt. 

“Yes. He’ll need warmth and a roof over his head. One of those should suffice.” Roland jerked his head at the scattering of abandoned buildings in the distance. They’d passed more earlier, but hadn’t bothered to enter any; they were old farmhouses and barns, and since the weather was good it was just as comfortable to camp outside. 

Roland glanced at Susannah and Eddie, then looked down at Jake. There was an unexpected tenderness in his voice as he said, “Perhaps we all could use a rest.”

They looked into several of the buildings before they found one that suited; two Roland rejected as structurally unsound, and one gave Eddie the creeps for no clear reason. Though it didn’t look any worse than the rest of them, he couldn’t help joking that it looked like the House of Dracula and the Haunted Mansion had a baby.

“If you dislike it, Eddie, we won’t go in,” said Roland. Eddie was still trying to decide whether or not he was being sarcastic when Susannah nudged him and said, “We all know you have good instincts, sugar. What do you think of that other one?”

“Fine, I guess.” Eddie knew they both trusted him, but what was hard to get used to was how well they _knew_ him. He was always joking, but they’d instantly realized when it was covering up something real.

That other one was a farmhouse with nothing worse than dust inside. The few pieces of furniture had decayed and were good for nothing but firewood, but on the plus side, it had a fireplace. They made a bed for Jake near the fire, and Roland went out and fetched a handful of herbs that he made into a sharp-smelling tea for him to drink.

Jake remained feverish and ill, spending most of his time sleeping or muttering in delirium. One of them always stayed with him while the others went out to hunt game or chop wood or fetch water, and Oy barely left his side. 

Eddie didn’t know which of them first got the idea. They’d just found themselves talking about it one night around the fire, as if they’d already decided. _Khef_ , he supposed Roland would say. Whatever it was, they set to work. 

Jake remembered his illness as a long stretch of pain and misery and confusion. He forever felt as if he was trying to wake up. When he thought he’d woken up, half the time he’d realize he was still dreaming, and try to wake up again. Sometimes he would know himself to be awake, seeing Oy’s gold-ringed eyes or Roland’s faded blue ones, feeling Susannah stroking his hair or Eddie coaxing him to eat with “At least it’s not lobstrosity.” And then the blankets would melt beneath him, and he’d be lost again.

But at last there came a day when he woke sweaty and weak but clear-headed, listened to their explanations of what had happened, and managed, with Roland’s help, to make it down to the stream to wash up. That was all he could manage for the day, but the next day he could walk around the house, and the next the house and the area around it.

“We could set out again tomorrow, if you feel well enough,” said Roland.

“I think I could go today,” Jake replied. He felt awkward and strange, knowing they’d cared for him for so long, and he wanted to be on his still-shaky feet again with things back to normal, or what passed for normal in Mid-World.

Roland shook his head. “Tomorrow. _If_ you feel well enough.”

Eddie and Susannah kept giving Jake funny looks, which he assumed were because they were still worried about him and wondering how much he’d really recovered. It made him feel even more awkward, and he went to sleep early, certain that they’d be talking about him well into the night. 

The next morning, he did feel well enough. He went to the stream by himself to bathe, and felt his own new strength as he walked back to the house. He could feel the pebbles through the hole in his shoe, and reminded himself to tell Roland about it. Roland knew leatherworking, having made those moccasins for him to replace his lost sneakers, and could patch it with deerhide or show Jake how to do it himself.

They were all waiting for him outside the abandoned farmhouse with their hands ostentatiously behind their backs. He slowed, confused.

“Surprise!” Eddie shouted.

“Happy birthday,” said Susannah.

“But my birthday’s in…” Jake began, then trailed off. He had no idea how long he’d spent in Mid-World, or even what month it was. It always seemed like mid-November. 

“Time isn’t what it used to be,” said Roland. “Your own timepiece runs backwards. Do we wish to celebrate, then the day you recover is as good a day as any.” 

He brought his hands out from behind his back, and handed Jake a pair of boots. Jake had thought Roland’s skills with leatherwork were rough, but now he realized that Roland simply hadn’t stayed in one place for long enough to tan a hide to silky smoothness. The boots were made of butter-soft brown leather, with rawhide laces and short heels of polished brown wood. _They’d cost a fortune in New York_ , Jake thought. He took off his moccasins and pulled on the boots, and was unsurprised to find that they fit perfectly.

“I did the heels,” Eddie announced. 

Jake stamped on a flat stone, liking the sharp click. Cowboy boots. Gunslinger boots. He stood taller now.

“And this is from me and Eddie,” Susannah said. “I explained what I wanted, and he made it.”

Eddie coughed. “She means, she drew every single piece for me, told me the measurements, and then showed me how to put them together. All I did was carve it.”

“ _All_ ,” said Susannah, lightly mocking, as she pressed their gift into Jake’s hands.

It was a wooden box with black grain rippling against a rich brown background. The edge of the lid was uneven, following the grain. Jake tried to open it, and couldn’t.

“It’s a puzzle box,” she said. “Once you figure out how to open it, you’ll still have to figure out how to open the compartments inside. There’s three of them you’ll see right away, and a fourth you’ll have to find.”

Entranced, Jake felt for a way in. He twisted it. The top half rotated, but didn’t come open. Then he turned it over and twisted it again. Once again it rotated without opening, but this time along the vertical axis. 

“Figured you might want something to do around the fire at nights,” she said. “And practice your math, since you won’t be doing that in school any more.”

“Math?” Jake asked. 

“Oh yes, honey. It’s all mathematical.” She winked at him. “You’ll see. Let me take that now, so you can get Eddie’s present.”

“And now! Last but not least! DUM DUM DE DUM DUM!” Eddie swept his hands out from behind his back, and handed Jake another wooden thing. 

Jake had no idea what it was. Another puzzle box? An abstract carving? It was rectangular, with a handle on top and an intricate pattern of circles and squares carved into the sides. Then he recognized it and burst out laughing.

“Oh good,” said Susannah. “You recognize it. Guess Eddie hadn’t lost his mind after all.”

“It’s a boombox!” Jake gasped. “The only kind I’m likely to find on Mid-World.”

“A little taste of home,” Eddie said modestly. “I wasn’t completely positive, but I _thought_ Walkmans were just a bit after your time. Of course Susannah and Roland were no help with that.”

“What’s a Walkman?” Jake asked.

“I knew it!” Eddie exclaimed. To the bewildered Susannah and Roland, he said, “Told you!”

Only then did Jake realize that he hadn’t actually thanked them. But mere thanks seemed absurdly inadequate. He stood dumb, unable to put what he felt into words, then gave up and pulled all three of them into a hug. 

“You!” barked a rough voice. Jake looked down just in time to see Oy drop a plump dead rabbit at his feet.

“I love you too, Oy,” Jake said, scooping him up to hug him too. “All of you.”

Roland picked up the rabbit. “That’ll make a fine dinner tonight.”

“Ready to hit the road?” Eddie asked. 

Jake nodded. He could see the Path of the Beam in the clouds, in the grass, in the ripples in the stream. It was time he put some dust on the soles of his new boots.


End file.
